I am a visual learner. I like making charts, color-coding my notes, studying vocabulary with post-its on my wall, drawing diagrams - are you getting the idea yet? Therefore, I've decided to provide you with some beautiful things I've noticed in Berlin this past (almost) month by color if you'll bear with me, as I've taken some of the liberties with the color wheel :)
Red and Orange:
Being a true California girl, I have always been rather skeptical of these ideas of "autumn," "changing leaves," and "cold." At the risk of maintaining your trust, I will say that I did live in New York for a year, but the climate the entire year was pretty much grey and any season was blocked by hella concrete. For those of you not from California, perhaps you cannot relate to my total surprise and excitement when I walked through a park on my way to school one morning and saw the entire street lined with red and orange leaves. My friend Michelle snapped this picture of the ivy changing colors on a building on Schönhauser Allee - it's pretty indicative of the loveliness of the season.
Yellow:
Berlin is definitely a biking city. On the sidewalks here, there are two different colored stripes of concrete - one is a bike lane and the other side is for pedestrians - and, in this way, one can easily tell a Berliner from a tourist because Berliners do NOT walk in the bike lane and almost get run over every 5 minutes because they can't remember that said bike lane exists. However, it is partially because of this lovely phenomenon that I realized that the Deutsche Post (USPS equivalent) is yellow! I now notice everytime I see the mailmen who deliver the post on bright yellow bikes and pick up letters from sunny mailboxes just like these...
Green:
I realize I just told you about all the changing leaves and how beautiful it is, but there is also a significant amount of nature that has not yet begun to transform. About a week ago, I found myself in the Tiergarten and ended up spending a few hours walking, reading, and sitting down on a bench watching all the people on their way somewhere. The Tiergarten is Berlin's equivalent to Central Park or Golden Gate park and was originally a hunting ground for the courts of Brandenburg and was beautifully landscaped about two hundred (ish) years ago. It has become one of my favorite Sunday haunts :) It is fantastically green and I often think about all the stories of wood-nymphs and other magical creatures that I would create if I were to sit amongst the trees there for a little while longer.
Last week, or perhaps the week after, I was riding the U-Bahn home and suddenly was overcome by a sea of die Blau-Weissen, the Blue-Whites, otherwise known as a massive group of fans of Hertha-Berlin - the local soccer, I mean football, club. Some friends and I are trying to get to a game this month and were largely inspired by the spirit of our co-habitants on the train. Soccer is huge here and is definitely an appropriate excuse for taking long lunch hours, rescheduling meetings, and, of course, downing some liquid courage before verbally bashing your opponent's team. The Germany v. Turkey game last week was one of the most watched programs of the week on television. In any case, I fully intend to experience this aspect of German culture at least once and perhaps I'll end up looking like my fellow U-7 riders!
Violet:
On Wednesday, the City of Berlin began its "Festival of Lights." Essentially, for ten days in October, many of the city's most visited and beloved sights are lit up and have insane light shows every night. Last night, I was walking home from hanging out with some friends and looked up to see the TV tower aglow with violet lights. I obviously did not take this photo, but this is exactly what it looks like and I think that some of my friends and I will do a little walking tour at night, enjoy each other's company and check out those lights!
I hope this method can better help you visualize where I am and what I'm seeing everyday. It's so interesting how things like mailboxes can become really interesting when I stop to notice them.
Some of you (hi Mom!) are also wondering what I actually do here, so here's a quick run-down of the past week: Over the weekend, I observed Yom Kippur, had a really meaningful holiday and met some really interesting people at services. Sunday, I had the idea to go see a movie in English with German subtitles and was absolutely correct in my assumption that it would help improve my vocabulary! I saw "Tree of Life" with Brad Pitt and Sean Penn and I would not recommend it. The vocab was definitely the highlight. My "Jewish and Muslim Berlin" class visited the Jüdische Friedhof (Jewish cemetery) and discussed the history of Jews in Berlin until WWI, and my field trip class took a walking tour of my new favorite neighborhood, Prenzlauer Berg. Last night, I went to the second Sprachpartnertreffen (Speaking partner meeting) and had a great time with my Stanford friends and new friends from various German universities.
This week, I am visiting Potsdam (a city just outside of Berlin) on Saturday and am heading to Bosnia and Herzegovina on Sunday. The whole Stanford program is going and we'll be meeting with EU representatives, professors, and Bosnian students to learn about Bosnia's desire to become part of the E.U, the role of Islam in Bosnia, and the history of the war and human rights abuses there. I am beyond excited and intrigued and can't wait to share the experience with you!
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